It was 10 years ago that the Partnership for Haddonfield was created. In that 10 years, it has continued to promote the growth of businesses in the downtown area.
Before the Partnership was created, Haddonfield was home to a loosely organized business association. The organization was completely voluntary, and there was not much leadership, according to Deb Hansen.
“We saw what the business association was doing and it just wasn’t organized enough to really help promote the businesses of Haddonfield,” Hansen, an original member of the Partnership, said. “It was important that the business association have some structure, so the decision was made to create something new.”
The Partnership adopted a mission to encourage businesses to come to downtown and to stay there. To do this, it created self-help and self-financing programs, and a public relations department to assist with marketing.
“We wanted to do so much more than just give businesses discounts,” Hansen said. “We wanted to improve the physical appearance of downtown and create events that would bring people to the community.”
Some of these events include the Craft and Fine Arts Festival, First Friday networking events and First Thursdays.
The Partnership also brought in a retail recruiter, a positioned now occupied by Remi Fortunato, to attract a larger variety of businesses to the area.
“Haddonfield is so unique, and we wanted downtown to translate that with a blend of unique stores,” Fortunato said. “So, we’ve made a concerted effort to bring in shops that offer a blend of different products and services.”
Fortunato sees Haddonfield as a place with a personal touch, where storeowners know their customers by name and there is a open communication between the community.
“We are striving to keep the small town feel of Haddonfield alive,” Fortunato said. “We are doing it one shop at a time, and it seems to be working.”
Commissioner Neal Rochford has always been a huge supporter of the Partnership and agrees with Fortunato about the success it has had.
“They have done a wonderful job with turning Haddonfield into a brand,” Rochford said. “The people of this community have always known what a great place it was, but the Partnership for Haddonfield has let everyone else know, and that has helped us bring in a lot more businesses.”
As Rochford puts it, the Partnership has put “feet on the street” in downtown. And the businesses continue to move in.
“We are expecting four new stores to move to Haddonfield in the next few months,” Fortunato said. “ Two of the stores, a spice shop and apparel store, will be moving in very soon. And we’re hoping to have even more coming in by the end of the year.”
“We work hard to get the kind of tenants we want in this community,” Hansen said. “Not every business belongs in Haddonfield, but the ones that do seem to love it here.”
Moving forward, Rochford sees the Partnership continuing to expand its marketing to reach more people.
“The Partnership for Haddonfield has already shown that it can attract new businesses to the borough, and now the word is spreading,’ he said. “We have to just continue to expand our marketing approach, especially with social media. The borough speaks for itself, and once businesses get here, they see what a great place it is. We just have to continue to get people to come here.”
